| Introduction
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xxxxxFormer U.S. Special Forces. Almost became a Jesuit priest before that. A little rough around the edges, but compassionate at the core. A driven individual, Martin believes very firmly in helping the sick, the needy, and those otherwise less fortunate. The whole turning the other cheek business, however, doesn’t fly as strongly with him; Martin is just a little bit Old Testament in his ways. But then, in this day and age, soldiers are just as needed as shepherds.
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| History
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| xxxxxMartin Sean Morris was born into an Irish-American family in the late 1970s, the middle of five children. For his first few years, the family moved around quite a bit on the US East Coast, but by the time Martin entered into kindergarten, the family settled in the suburbs of Washington D.C.
xxxxxGrowing up middle class Catholic, Martin earned decent grades at a good school while participating in different sports and regularly attending church on Sundays. He and his brothers served as altar boys, though they probably weren’t the most devout in the bunch. Like most young boys, Martin occasionally found himself in trouble, usually for scrapping with some other kid, but for the most part he kept his nose clean and his parents proud.
xxxxxWhen Martin was fourteen, Father William, the head priest of their church, collapsed on the altar during Easter Mass from a heart attack. Martin was the first to get to Father William, and when he put his hands on the man, it was like a bolt of supercharged light rocked through him. Gasping for air and clutching at his chest, the teen collapsed to the ground as others tried to rouse Father William.
xxxxxBoth the priest and Martin recovered by the time the paramedics arrived at the church. At the hospital, they were both declared fit as fiddles. The rumors of a miracle having transpired spread throughout the congregation like wildfire.
xxxxxFather William, however, was an incredibly smart and at times shrewd priest, and very protective of his flock. Though he quietly embraced the idea of a miracle, and believed it, he also worked to tamp things down for Martin’s safety while taking the boy further under his wing. Meanwhile, the teen found himself healing rapidly from the usual scrapes and bangs teenaged boys tend to pick up.
xxxxxIt seemed only natural that Martin, with his questionable miracle status, would go into the seminary after high school. Father William encouraged him to join the Society of Jesus—the Jesuits—at Georgetown, where he would learn about history and the sciences on equal footing with religion.
xxxxxAlthough Martin did well and studied hard, he grew frustrated during his time in the seminary. He found the approach of the modern-day Jesuits too passive, especially for being called God’s Soldiers. He wanted to be active. He wanted to help people in the direst need. And, during his third year when the Kosovo War started, he left to join the military, instead.
xxxxxMartin served for some time in the US Army, eventually working into Special Forces as a Sergeant. During his missions, it grew increasingly difficult for him to hide his mutation from his fellow Green Berets. His platoon, however, worked to help conceal Martin’s nature from others out of brotherhood. They regularly covered for him, cracked jokes about his invulnerability like he was the luckiest son of a bitch to ever walk the earth, and dissuaded others from catching on.
xxxxxEventually, though, it all caught up with him. During a joint operation, a captain was grievously wounded in an explosion, and medics were unable to reach him during a brief firefight. Martin pulled the injuries from the captain, risking his career. When others saw how he was able to then rapidly heal himself compared to the average person, word rippled upwards. He was drummed out of the military, but the captain he saved worked hard to ensure he received a general discharge, instead of something worse.
xxxxxBack in civilian life, Martin worked a number of odd jobs while struggling to come to grips with the hatred for mutants so many people at home harbored. Could other mutants be the less fortunate he sought to defend? For some time, he considered joining with less than ideal groups, including the Brotherhood of Mutants. But a chance encounter with Professor Charles Xavier in D.C. led Martin, instead, to the School for Gifted Youngsters and the ranks of the X-Men. Xavier, after all, shared the same surname with Francis Xavier, one of the co-founders of the Society of Jesus. Martin took it as a sign.
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| Powers
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Accelerated Healing:
xxxxxMartin has an accelerated healing factor, able to recover from wounds and illnesses at a rapid rate. Small cuts heal almost instantaneously, whereas serious gunshot wounds can take up to a couple of hours. Broken bones, depending on the severity of the fracture, can take up to six hours. He is highly resistant to most illnesses and pharmaceuticals.
xxxxxMartin is not immune to pain, and he is also not entirely immune to scarring. The more damaging the wound, the more likely it is to scar. A clean cut from a scalpel or sharp blade, for instance, will not leave a scar, but ravaging bites, or burns from fires or chemicals will definitely leave some scarring. He also apparently does not heal so fast as to completely reject body modifications, as evidenced by his tattoos.
xxxxxFor more serious injuries, the amount of energy required to heal causes Martin’s body to start to cannibalize itself. Fat is the first to go, and then muscle. Because of this, he requires a high caloric intake, especially either before or after healing a major injury.
Lay on Hands:
xxxxxWith physical skin-to-skin contact, Martin is able to “absorb” another person’s injuries or ailments; they are transferred to him, so that if he, for instance, performs this on a person with a broken ankle, Martin’s ankle will then break in the exact same way. The more serious the wound or sickness, the longer it will take him; a simple cut is practically instantaneous, whereas a fatal wound can take up to three minutes. Martin is capable of transferring a ravaging disease, such as cancer, to himself, but will require multiple sessions to do so (with sessions lasting as long as five minutes) and with breaks for recuperation in between. He cannot regenerate a severed limb, and is incapable of absorbing congenital defects or genetic disorders. He is also incapable of bringing someone back from the dead, although if someone has stopped breathing, but still shows feeble signs of life in a weak, irregular heartbeat, he can still attempt to absorb whatever has caused this state and save them. Doing so for massive trauma (as opposed to something like a drowning), however, will incapacitate Martin for approximately forty-eight to seventy-two hours while his body heals.
xxxxxThis ability is draining on Martin, to say the least. Depending on the severity of an injury, he may or may not be capable of absorbing wounds from multiple people at a time: if a group of four people were suffering from minor lacerations, for instance, he would be able to absorb their injuries back-to-back with little difficulty, but if they all were suffering from minor gunshot wounds, he would require a minimum downtime of ten minutes between each one, while his own body at least partially heals each wound. More serious injuries or illnesses require hours or even days for Martin to recuperate from, taking about twice to three times as long as compared to if he sustained the injury himself, due to the draining quality of the absorption process.
xxxxxMartin also has no control of the ability; if he touches someone who is sick or injured, he will pull said injury or illness. Those who are touched by Martin usually describe a slightly warm sensation, almost like a glow within, that starts at the point of contact and then spreads throughout their body. Everyone feels this, even those with no hurts, so it can be difficult for Martin to conceal his power.
xxxxxFinally, even though it might not be the sight of the injury, the point of contact for both Martin and the person being healed is prone to scarring, depending on the severity of the injury or illness. Because of this, Martin’s hands look a bit like they’ve gone through meat grinder. He uses this as a convenient excuse to wear gloves when he’s out in public, though he largely does so to avoid tipping people off to his mutation when he does things like shake hands or accidentally brushes against someone.
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| Connections
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Friends
Foes
And everything in between
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| Gallery
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[[Image:|x150px]]
[[Image:|x150px]]
[[Image:|x150px]]
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| Martin Sean Morris
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| Codename
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Paladin
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| Birthdate
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1977-12-10
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| Species
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Mutant
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| Affiliation
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Xavier's, X-Men
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| Alignment
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(not really) lawful good
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| Powers
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Accelerated healing factor, injury/ailment transfer (lay on hands heal)
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| Occupation
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Instructor
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| RP Hooks
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| Almost a Jesuit Priest - Martin went into the seminary at Georgetown. Although he dropped out in his third year, he still feels a very strong connection with the Society of Jesus. He even has a tattoo on his upper right arm of their symbol, and another tattoo on his back of a cross with the letters A.M.D.G. Anyone up on their Catholicism should recognize what those things mean almost immediately.
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| Green Beret - Martin was a Sergeant in the U.S. Army's Special Forces. He's probably got some war stories, if you can get him to open up.
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| Xavier's - For some reason or other, he's been hired to work at Xavier's. Martin probably makes a better X-Man than teacher, but that's okay. He can still teach folks a thing or two.
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| X-Man - Are you up to no good? Because Paladin might come seeking justice.
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